Comcast Is Investigating a Customer Service Call From Hell

Ehren8879 said:
Stuff like this always seems to turn out being fake
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Then you've never been on hold/ bounced around for over 4 hours with Time Warner customer service before just to be told to call back tomorrow then have you?
 
Dildonose said:
Dude you are not comprehending what I am mad about. I am mad because they lied about the "why" they were raising my rate and the probable "big picture" (multi-billion dollar Time Warner merger) reason they were doing it. No company as large as Comcast has bean counters that incompetent to make such a glaring billing error for so many years.You obviously are young, dumb and full of cum if you think that being so blatantly lied to is meh! What is it about the human mind that makes us so dense? When those Comcast liars get control of almost all the cable internet service in most of the United States you will probably still be clueless about why your service sucks and your bill keeps going up! Do you work for them? :rolleyes:
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Smells like you just got f*cked....
 
I hate Comcast. My last customer service call from them had their tech support person telling me they can see my cable modem despite my coax cable being REMOVED from the damn cable modem itself. I screamed at the guy saying "Look cow fucker, get me a damn on-site tech as your cabling needs fixing!". The guy obliged and sent an on-site tech who found a filter having been the problem.
 
DustMite said:
I saw this article on a different website and it stated that the wife made the initial call and was getting fed up dealing with the retention person on the phone. She then handed the phone over to her husband who started recording the call. The total amount of time both parties were on the phone with comcrap was longer than the mere 8 minutes captured on audio.
Now I do not know if I would have been that calm when getting the obvious runaround from this pipsqueak at comcrap.
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I think this retention guy is under immense pressure from his superiors to intimidate customers to give up trying to leave. I think that as Comcast has a greater and greater stranglehold on Americans it will only get worse. I am so happy about Google getting into the ISP business but I fear I will be dead as dirt before they ever come to my town. Letting the merger with Time Warner proceed would be disastrous even though Time Warner is another company rated at the bottom of the list in customer satisfaction. You know the Internet has become as indispensable as electricity and water and they just love the fact that they are not regulated like utilities. That has to change or we are fucked! :eek:
 
Dildonose said:
Dude you are not comprehending what I am mad about. I am mad because they lied about the "why" they were raising my rate and the probable "big picture" (multi-billion dollar Time Warner merger) reason they were doing it. No company as large as Comcast has bean counters that incompetent to make such a glaring billing error for so many years.You obviously are young, dumb and full of cum if you think that being so blatantly lied to is meh! What is it about the human mind that makes us so dense? When those Comcast liars get control of almost all the cable internet service in most of the United States you will probably still be clueless about why your service sucks and your bill keeps going up! Do you work for them? :rolleyes:
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So you feel you were lied to so you justify it by not paying your bill in full?

Given that you were grandfathered in and remained with Comcast for what you say was 7+ years, don't you think it's entirely possible that at some point your rate was suppose to go up but due to a billing error with your account being a special case, you never saw such an increase?

I mean, I hate Comcast as much as the next guy but even that scenario seems more likely for them than them just outright lying about a rate increase when they have raised rates willy nilly for pretty much as long as they've been in business. I'm actually amazed they didn't demand back payment for the "error".
 
I cancelled Comcast for FiOS and told them it was because FiOS was better and cheaper, they didn't question it and disconnected immediately.

Now, when I tried to cancel my Verizon landline to go 100% cellular, Verizon was a pain in the balls, very similar to this call.
 
The reason the CSR tried to hard is because of the way this guy carried himself. He's very soft spoken, keeps saying please, doesnt raise his voice etc. The CSR detected weakness and pounced on it.
 
My last experience with Comcast csr took over an hour, nothing was resolved, and the "analyst" cancelled my account without my permission. They still owe me $24 to boot.
 
ChedWick said:
So you feel you were lied to so you justify it by not paying your bill in full?

Given that you were grandfathered in and remained with Comcast for what you say was 7+ years, don't you think it's entirely possible that at some point your rate was suppose to go up but due to a billing error with your account being a special case, you never saw such an increase?

I mean, I hate Comcast as much as the next guy but even that scenario seems more likely for them than them just outright lying about a rate increase when they have raised rates willy nilly for pretty much as long as they've been in business. I'm actually amazed they didn't demand back payment for the "error".
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I see the logic in what you are saying but I maintain that Comcast bean counters are paid big bucks to make sure they get all that they are owed. To say that because I was grandfathered in led to the billing error is ridiculous because they clearly knew over those 7+ years that I was being billed for and paying the $49.95. To say that they would not say "Doh" he is being undercharged because he should be paying $72.00 is ridiculous! I will not pay $72.00 for Internet service as long as there is a cheaper alternative. It's not worth that much per month unless you are getting Gb speeds and I am not. Perhaps you are made of money but I work for a living. You sure don't sound like you hate Comcast more like you defend them.

Disclaimer: I am not perfect but I have told you the truth to the best of my ability and I loath Comcast as a company and as a doorway between consumers and the Internet!
 
Dildonose said:
I see the logic in what you are saying but I maintain that Comcast bean counters are paid big bucks to make sure they get all that they are owed. To say that because I was grandfathered in led to the billing error is ridiculous because they clearly knew over those 7+ years that I was being billed for and paying the $49.95. To say that they would not say "Doh" he is being undercharged because he should be paying $72.00 is ridiculous! I will not pay $72.00 for Internet service as long as there is a cheaper alternative. It's not worth that much per month unless you are getting Gb speeds and I am not. Perhaps you are made of money but I work for a living. You sure don't sound like you hate Comcast more like you defend them.

Disclaimer: I am not perfect but I have told you the truth to the best of my ability and I loath Comcast as a company and as a doorway between consumers and the Internet!
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:rolleyes: What was that you were saying about the human mind being dense?
 
ChedWick said:
:rolleyes: What was that you were saying about the human mind being dense?
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Lets skip the density allegation and go to the glaring lack of detail in what you are alluding to. I mean WTF are you alluding to dude? Be specific because nobody here is a mind reader. We read text to comprehend. If you leave huge glaring holes in what you are making a statement about you confuse us. Ok? What specifically are you complaining about in my post? Ok?
 
Dildonose said:
Lets skip the density allegation and go to the glaring lack of detail in what you are alluding to. I mean WTF are you alluding to dude? Be specific because nobody here is a mind reader. We read text to comprehend. If you leave huge glaring holes in what you are making a statement about you confuse us. Ok? What specifically are you complaining about in my post? Ok?
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Am I the only one reading his posts in this voice:

The-league-bobbum-man-550x309.jpg
 
I switched from Frontier to Comcast about 4-5 years ago because of Frontier's terrible service. It was down every other day.

I cancelled Frontier over the phone when I got Comcast hooked up, but for the next 7 months they kept billing me anyways. Every month I would call Frontier and tell them to knock it off. It's not a new $19 bill every month, but late fees, previous months bills, etc. It was piling high.

I'm not sure how they finally figured out after 7 months that I wasn't their customer anymore, but the funny thing is that if I WAS their customer, they would kill my service if I have just TWO months of unpaid bills. But since I DON'T have their service, they kept billing me every month! Nice try Frontier!
 
The problem is, it's not just Comcast which does this type of stuff. I've had incidents, such as with my credit card company, where they keep telling me they're not the person who can help, and to call another number. 5 numbers later they send me back to the original number I called.

Now, while obviously the Comcast rep wasn't helpful, any sane person would have gone directly to the store. The fact that the caller didn't hang up and states how it's impossible for him, but he could send someone else, but refuses to do so makes me distrust him some too.
 
I wish he had just answered the question of why he was cancelling like he did in the follow-up interview on the site. Would have been nice to have that stuff heard in the actual recording. Was is that hard to do?

Why are you switching service?
I’m not happy with Comcast’s policies and net neutrality issues, and I figure that if we’re going to continue to have to pay for cable, and we have the extraordinarily rare luxury of having multiple cable providers in our area, we might as well better give it to the little guy who is fighting to do right by their customers. I wish I’d heard about Astound years ago, I would have switched long before now.
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Performance metrics in this industry are so jacked up it creates these kinds of scenarios. When I worked for Dish Network as a Technician (Installer), if a customer called us back out within the first 12 days, it hit our metrics and could result in a loss of a bonus. A common reason for us having to go back out was because customers refuse to use the new remote or forget and then forget what we told them or dont want to look at the literature we left behind for them. Another metric was getting the jobs done that are assigned to you, if you create an appointment as a customer and are not home or cancel your appointment, the tech still gets hit.

I understand the industry is just trying to gauge performance but it's so poorly implemented and allows for zero tolerance that instead of motivating employees to excel to the best of their abilities, they end up doing bare minimum. Near the end of my employment with them, I just threw my hands up and ran out of fucks to give. I'm so glad to be out of that industry all together.
 
SGA76 said:
This is called "quality control" that is forced on to the employees, where they have to hit "metrics" and either ask or state certain things where they are threatened to be fired. The company doesn't give 2 shits about how customers feel about their service and feel its more important to provide the same experience across the board, even if it is shitty service.
As someone who has done customer service this can be frustrating to us as well because before we're allowed to help you we HAVE to put you through bullshit the company says is necessary or we get fired.
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I'd probably be more understanding if reps would just straight up tell me that they're mandated to put me through a ton of BS before actually helping or risk being fired; though they'd probably be fired for being honest about it.
 
mynamehere said:
I'd probably be more understanding if reps would just straight up tell me that they're mandated to put me through a ton of BS before actually helping or risk being fired; though they'd probably be fired for being honest about it.
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We were only allowed to say we're required to say things if asked, if we answered and said "I'm sorry but if I don't read this crap first I'll be fired" we would have been fired.
 
I always had good service out of Dish Network when I was with them for like 6 or 7 years. When I finally cut the cord and called them up they did ask why and did offer me a cheaper package but when I said no they werent pushy at all and politely cancelled my subscription. If I ever decide to go back to cable/dish, itll be Dish Network because of their customer service. Anybody can give you a bunch of channels to watch but pain free customer service and tech support are awful nice.
 
I usually just get Chinese people who barely speak English. This is actually so much worse. The guy is aggressive and just plain nasty.
 
Wow, that was bad... Thankfully, when I dropped Comcast for FIOS it was nothing like that.
 
I have Comcast and generally my dealings with them have been OK. A few years back I was having problems with poor TV; sound was cutting out on HD channels and some even had video breakups. So they sent out a service tech who replaced some cable in the house (from the wall to the TV and modem) and the filter/static-guard outside. It was better for a while, but then got bad again, so I called them again. They sent out the same service tech and he started looking at other possibilities outside the house. This was in the dead of winter and it was below zero, but he didn't even complain. Eventually he strung a temporary cable from the distro box to the house and all the problems went away. We used that until the spring when they sent a crew out to trench in a permanent cable. The called and let me know a few days ahead of time so that I could mark where I had some water lines for the in-ground sprinkler system. Then they sent two guys out with shovels to install the new cable. When they were done you couldn't even tell they had been there except the temporary cable was gone.

Finally I got tired of the bill going up all the time, so last Fall I cancelled the TV portion and only kept the internet service. They were nice on the phone and when I explained that we just didn't watch that much TV anymore and could get the networks over the air, they understood. Yes, they tried to sell me on a package deal with a temporary discount, but I turned them down. I think they were required to do that and actually seemed embarrassed to ask when they knew I would decline. They also asked if I would like faster internet, but I turned that down too. So after 10 minutes on hold and 5 minutes of talking to the service rep, I had my TV subscription cancelled and I've saved almost $100 a month since then.

Maybe they have changed policies since then, but I hope not. I'm building a new house and will be moving in a few months to an area where Comcast does not offer service, so I will have to cancel my Internet service. Maybe I should record it just in case.
 
It certainly sounds like this person is just bullshitting so the customer hangs up without canceling the service, just to prevent his metrics getting hit. And the rep keeps getting "#1 provider" and "#1 rated provider" mixed up. Not the same thing.
 
Json23 said:
I've had that type of conversation with your tech support in the past. Which is why I am now with Charter instead.
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I guess it may vary from call center to call center. 8 years ago I worked for Comcast in the Voorhees call center in NJ and supported all of NJ for the internet and South NJ for everything else. Back then to provide internet support you had to be trained and in all the call queues. I called it the gang bang queue.

I took 40 to 60 calls a day easily and a lot of them were frustrated customers. Usually I was able to win them over to work with me patiently simply because I cared more for my interaction with them vs how they viewed the company.

Back then at least Comcast call center employees were not scripted, we weren't trained in dirty tactics, we were suppose to get a supervisor on the line if the customer blatantly refused to speak with us, and most certainly our retention department (which started right behind my row so our backs were facing each other and only feet apart) was never trained or allowed to bully a customer like this.

Granted this guy was trying to push the reps buttons a bit and the rep bit and swallowed that hook way too easily.

Did we have metrics? Yes. Were we suppose to ask certain questions verbatim? No.

So was this rep out of line with how Comcast did things at least 8 years ago? Definitely was, and chances are he has been written up for it before.

I am not the fondest person of Comcast or my time spent working there, but I have trouble chewing on the assumptions others make who do not work there, or take one support call as the law for how Comcast's mentality and training must be.

Working in that call center, there was a lot of customer hate, people hated that Comcast was so profitable (ummm, it is a business, right?), customers went out of their way to be damn near inhumane at times to customer service to extract some sort of poetic justice for their problems.

And at times there were sweet, wonderful, caring, or at least once you got them to shed a few layers of hate, awesome customers who helped me retain hope for the human race as a whole.

I've always taken the high road and been the same with call centers when I call for help as I was during the days when I was one the other side of that line. And I've received compliments for my patience, surprise due to some issues I had to go through to get the right help, and through it all despite frustrations with how some companies are it has always rewarded me with a good end result.

Bottom line, if you get a rep that sucks that bad without any antagonizing, thank them for their time, hang up, call back and report the issue and get the help you require from another rep. These guys barely get paid enough to deal with the craptastic-ness of their jobs, but it is still a job and they still need to maintain a level of professionalism otherwise GTFO and make room for another starving family who will work harder to keep that money coming in.
 
this is what you call a resume enhancement, companies will hear this guy and want to hire him away from comcast, this is no different that someone wanting to cancel his or her cell phone services so they can get a early upgrade phone, to like a iphone or samsung. In other words all companies will go to great lengths to keep someone from canceling his or her service!
 
xX326Xx said:
In the article after the call in the Q/A he stated he also didn't file a complaint, likely for these legal reasons. It is a pretty dickish move. All the same I'm glad he exploited the CSR, these kinds of calls make me sick. I always try to remain calm when doing something similar because your likely to get better service over the call, if you come off pissed and start taking it out on the person on the phone they are likely to not help you at all. I do agree for his reasoning for disconnecting his service over the lobbying and net neutrality.
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What? "Dickish" move? All of your phone calls are recorded by comcast et. al, but it's a dickish move if the favor is returned?

Besides, there's absolutely nothing illegal about a person recording a phone conversation. What in the fuck world are you making up.
 
Cancelling your credit cards isn't any better. You go through the hoops to get it "cancelled" only to discover it isn't cancelled a few months later. I hate people.
 
I went through this with them a few months ago.

Them: "Triple play is cheaper than just Internet and TV so you don't want to downgrade"
Me: "How much is Triple Play"
Them: "$160 per month"
Me: "How much is just TV and Internet"
Them: "$120 per month"
Me: "How exactly is that cheaper?"
Them: "I can give you a deal on Triple Play to make it cheaper"
Me: "How much would the promotion be?"
Them: "$130 per month"
 
And yet when I call to get another promotion price on my service, Comcast is rapid to send me to retentions, and retentions is quick to push cancellation on me without offering me anything, making me have to call back multiple times until I get a rep willing to dig through the system and find me a deal. :D
 
Dreaz said:
What? "Dickish" move? All of your phone calls are recorded by comcast et. al, but it's a dickish move if the favor is returned?

Besides, there's absolutely nothing illegal about a person recording a phone conversation. What in the fuck world are you making up.
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Depends on the state mate, 12 states are all party consent state which means post parties have to agree to it.
 
By the way, for all you passive non-confrontational bitches that dont know how to handle someone over the phone, you can always just LIE to cancel your account. Say you received a new job in fucking Japan and are moving overseas tomorrow morning. Say you're going to jail for murdering a customer support rep from another ISP. Say your employer is picking up the tab for you. Say their competitor is offering 1gbps and when they call you out say "sorry bruh you dont know wtf you're talking about, I'm getting 6 months free gigabit internet service plus HBO for life, beat that bitch!".

If you dont know how to argue with someone then just make shit up.
 
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